Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber

Biber worked in Graz and Kroměříž before he illegally left his employer, Prince-Bishop Karl Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn, and settled in Salzburg.

His own technique allowed him to easily reach the 6th and 7th positions, employ multiple stops in intricate polyphonic passages, and explore the various possibilities of scordatura tuning.

[8] Biber never reached Stainer, however, and instead entered the employ of the Archbishop of Salzburg, Maximilian Gandolph von Kuenburg.

[3] Because Karl and Maximilian were friends,[7] Biber's former employer refrained from taking any action; he was, however, very hurt by the composer's decision, and waited until 1676 to officially issue his release papers.

Daughters Maria Cäcilia (born 1674) and Anna Magdalena (1677–1742) became nuns at Santa Clara, Merano, and the Nonnberg Abbey, respectively.

Yet another area in which Biber made a substantial contribution was the art of scordatura, i.e. music for alternative tunings of the instrument.

The sonatas were dedicated to Maximilian Gandolph von Khuenburg, whom Biber addresses in the preface: "I have consecrated the whole to the honour of the XV Sacred Mysteries, which you promote so strongly."

Although unpublished during the composer's lifetime, these works are his most popular pieces today, and one of the reasons for the revival of interest in his music.

[12] The second work in which Biber explored scordatura techniques is Harmonia artificioso-ariosa (1696), his last known published collection of instrumental music.

That collection comprises eight sonatas for violin and basso continuo, all noted already by Charles Burney in the late 18th century, for the brilliant virtuosic passages and elaborate structures.

In contrast to both Mystery Sonatas and Harmonia, these works consist mostly of pieces in free forms (prelude, aria) or variations, rather than dances.

Biber's other published collections of instrumental music are Sonatae tam aris quam aulis servientes (1676), Mensa sonora (1680), and Fidicinium sacro profanum (1682/3).

Many of those were polychoral and employing large instrumental forces, inspired by the possibilities of the spacious interior of the Salzburg Cathedral.

An expansive setting of the mass for sixteen voices and 37 instrumentalists (i.e. 53 parts total), it was previously attributed to Orazio Benevoli, but today Biber's authorship is certain.

In tribute to the Emperor Henry II, the second founding saint of the convent, she took the name Maria Rosa Henrica when her novitiate began in 1696.